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Knitting group shares faith with gifts of love

Connie McKinney, Correspondent
6 p.m. EDT August 1, 2014

Knitters gather at St. Ambrose Church in Endicott

Members of Knits and Needles knit and crochet items for charities and donations to elderly and homebound people. They enjoy helping other people and practicing their craft, members said.(Photo: CONNIE MCKINNEY/Contributed photo)

Story Highlights

As many as 15 women gather to knit or crochet items such as hats, shawls and gloves

Items are donated to charities or people who are homebound or in nursing homes

Members also make white Baptismal blankets for every baby in the St. Ambrose parish who is baptized

Fingers flew, knitting needles clicked and laughter rang out during a recent meeting of Knits and Kneedles at St. Ambrose Church in Endicott.

Each week, as many as 15 women from around the Southern Tier gather inside the church’s basement to knit or crochet items such as hats, shawls and gloves. Those items are donated to charities or people who are homebound or in nursing homes.

“We’re helping people,” said Eileen Mylnarczyk of Vestal. “That’s what we’re here for. It makes it all worthwhile.”

The group has been meeting for at least 10 years. Many members belong to St. Ambrose Church, but there is no requirement that members belong to St. Ambrose or any other church, members said.

Knits and Needles completes about 150 items per year, said Toni Sherling of Endicott. How long each item takes varies depending on the size and what is being done. Baby mittens can be crafted quickly, while large afghans can take several weeks.

Group members also make white Baptismal blankets for every baby in the St. Ambrose parish who is baptized. Parents, especially first-time parents, enjoy receiving the blanket as a gift, said the Rev. Don Bourgeois, pastor of St. Ambrose.

“Parents are really touched that someone they never met is acknowledging their newborn child,” Bourgeois said.

Group members also make hats, gloves and scarves for Samaritan House, which provides clothing, household items and other goods to people in need. Many members are now working on baby items for an annual shower for clients of Birthright, which provides services and support to women with unplanned pregnancies. Others are working on afghans that will be used as raffle prizes to benefit Traci’s Hope, a not-for-profit organization that helps people with breast cancer.

The group makes prayer shawls that are given to sick or elderly people in nursing homes, people recovering from surgery at home and those who are homebound with chronic illnesses. Bourgeois blesses and delivers the prayer shawls when he visits nursing homes or private homes.

“There’s definitely a spiritual message attached to those shawls,” he said. “That’s what Jesus told us to do: to reach out to those who suffer or are less fortunate.”

That’s why Mylnarczyk shows up with knitting needles in hand week after week, she said.

“It’s another way to serve the church and contribute,” she said.

Sherling said she agreed.

“There are things we used to be able to do that we can‘t do anymore” such as cleaning the church, she said. “This we can do.”

Another group member, Pat McLoughlin of Binghamton, said knitting and crocheting to help others is a spiritual experience for her.

“It’s a form of prayer for me,” she said. “It’s a form of meditation, actually.”

Even though members meet for the purpose of knitting and crocheting, they enjoy socializing with each other. As they work, they talk, joke and laugh often.

“We have fun,” Sherling said. “We’re doing what we love to do.”

Even though most group members are retired, they don’t plan to hang up their knitting needles any time soon, they said.

“It really means a lot to us,” Sherling said. “If you can make one little baby’s head warm or make an elderly person that is sitting all alone in the nursing home day in and day out feel warm and cozy, to me that’s what it’s all about.”

ABOUT KNITS AND NEEDLES

Knits and Needles is a group of women who crochet and knit items that are donated to charities or given to people who are in nursing homes or homebound. The group meets from 12:45 p.m. to 3 p.m. every Thursday at Msgr. Carey Hall inside St. Ambrose Church in Endicott. New members are welcome.